Publication - FOI/EIR release

Correspondence on health boards annual operating plans (AOP): FOI release

Published: 6 November 2023
Directorate: Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate
Topic: Health and social care, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202300368918
Date received: 28 July 2023
Date responded: 25 August 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

Correspondence on each of the following health board’s annual operating plans for 23/24 between the Scottish government and the following health boards:

a. Greater Glasgow and Clyde
b. Lothian
c. Highland

Response

Many thanks for your request. Note that what were previously referred to as ‘annual operating plans’ are now Annual Delivery Plans (ADPs), and on that basis I am happy to enclose a copy of all of the correspondence related to these that we hold on record, in PDF format. I have redacted some email addresses where they are not already in the public domain as per General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and section 38(1)(b).

The correspondence includes draft documents of the NHS Board Annual Delivery Plans themselves, which will be published online by their respective NHS Boards within the next two months on their websites. As such, we consider these exempt for release under section 27(1) of the FOISA, which allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if there are already plans to publish it within the next 12 weeks, provided it is reasonable to delay disclosing the information until the planned date of publication. In this case, we consider such a delay reasonable as it allows the Annual Delivery Plans to be considered and discussed as part of local NHS Board governance procedures before being released. If required, we would be able to show that the documents covered by the FOI are the same documents that will soon be published.

If you are unable to access the information online from the NHS Board websites after these 12 weeks have elapsed, please let me know and I'll send you a copy via e-mail.

Section 38(1)(b) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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